Pre-Clinical Murine Models: Syngeneic Models for Immuno-Oncology

Abstract

Experimental animal models are crucial in the study of the pathological development of cancer and evaluation of the efficacy of novel therapeutic or preventive agents. To date, several newer targeted therapeutics have been unsuccessful. Novel therapeutics that have often appeared to perform well in preclinical models have failed in the clinic. Many factors contribute to these failures, but the one most often highlighted relates to the short-comings of the preclinical models. Several animal models are available, including a wide variety of genetic mouse models, cell line xenografts, patient derived xenografts, and syngeneic xenografts. These models have generated an enormous amount of information useful for the understanding of cancer. The complexities and strategies of these models is beyond the scope of this mini-review, the aim here is to briefly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of some of the popular models. Given the progress in the rapidly developing field of immuno-oncology, particular emphasis will be placed on the potential for syngeneic murine models as a means of testing novel immune-modulatory compounds. New and improved preclinical mouse models, combined with technological advances to study such models, will undoubtedly lead to the success of future human clinical trials for cancer patients.